If you follow Michelle Kaufmann’s blog, you’ve probably seen completion photos of this residential care facility for the New Camaldoli Hermitage Monks in Big Sur, California. The 1,737 square-foot facility originally began as mkDesigns project but – due to market realities we’ve mentioned previously – Studio 101 Designs guided it through completion.
Generally speaking, traditional construction can be inefficient and wasteful, while prefab construction can be non-local and expensive. Somewhere in between, you might imagine, is a potential sweet spot where homes can be built in a smart, green, approachable, and modern way. That’s what a Portland team is trying to do with Minimalist+ and their new SiteFab building process.
Michelle Kaufmann just announced the launch of three new prefab homes available exclusively through Studio 101 Designs and built by Blazer Industries. These homes — Ridge0, Vista0, and Contours0 — are part of the Zero Series designed to produce as much energy as is needed over the course of a year. As you can tell from the renderings, they're undeniably contemporary and seemingly approachable at the same time.
Ideabox was invited to participate in this year's NW Natural Street of Dreams in Portland to show how compact living, when well designed, can be luxurious at the same time. The eco prefab on display the entire month is about 20% the size of the largest home on the block, yet it has everything one could ask for *and* an approachable price tag.
I thought the ECObitat concept from Felipe Campolina was worth a look. ECObitat, a modular system capable of being applied to emergency or relief housing, features drop-down telescopic legs and a steel skeleton covered in OSB, thermoacoustic insulation, and greenery. Water and solar power is collected on the roof, while an Energy Ball captures on-site green energy. The set up is spartan but interesting nonetheless.
Project Profiles
